Apartment fire in Khanh Hoi ward: Rescued 2 trapped people and guided 300 people to escape safely

Cháy chung cư ở phường Khánh Hội: Cứu 2 người mắc kẹt và hướng dẫn 300 người thoát ra ngoài an toàn- Ảnh 1. — Professional fire police force present at the scene, deploying fire fighting equipment - Photo: THANH HIEP

On October 21, regarding the "Apartment fire in Khanh Hoi ward", a representative of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department (PC07) of Ho Chi Minh City Police had an initial report on the incident.

According to the report of PC07 Department, the fire was reported at 4:12 p.m. on October 20 at apartment 27.10, block A, 27th floor, Reverside apartment building on Ben Van Don street, Khanh Hoi ward, Ho Chi Minh City.

Immediately after receiving the news, PC07 Department quickly mobilized the Fire Fighting and Rescue Team of Area 4 (including 3 vehicles and 18 officers and soldiers); Area 1 (including 7 vehicles and 42 officers and soldiers); Fire Fighting and Rescue Team (including 1 vehicle and 6 officers and soldiers), to the scene of the fire at 4:16 p.m., controlled the fire at 5:15 p.m. and extinguished the fire at 5:30 p.m.

Upon arrival, the fire department used portable fire extinguishers and the building's wall fire suppression system to put out the fire, but due to the large fire, it was ineffective.

Through reconnaissance work to grasp the situation, it was determined that the fire was large, developing rapidly, emitting a lot of smoke and toxic gas with the risk of spreading to adjacent apartments. It was determined that many people were trapped in apartments on different floors of the apartment building. The unit quickly deployed a plan to rescue the victims.

The Fire Prevention and Rescue Police force divided into many directions to approach the rooms on each floor, deployed stairs to guide 300 residents of the apartment building to escape to the ground safely and rescued 2 people trapped on the balcony of apartment 27.4 to safety.

The forces deployed fire extinguishers from the apartment building's wall to extinguish the fire, and opened windows to let smoke out through the building's open spaces.

In addition, demolition equipment and two fans were used to blow smoke out of the building through the windows, creating a clear environment for officers and soldiers to deploy combat spearheads at the fire front.

Authorities initially determined that the fire originated in the bedroom area of the apartment. The fire did not cause any human casualties, but burned approximately 50/68m² of the apartment along with some items such as air conditioners, refrigerators, fans, clothes... (the value of the damage has not been estimated yet).

The police protected the remaining 18m² of apartment 27.10, promptly extinguished the fire and prevented it from spreading to the surrounding area and adjacent apartments.

Apartment 27.10 is owned by Ms. VTML. At the time of the fire, there were 3 people inside the apartment and they managed to escape in time, shout, alert everyone around and call 114 to report the fire.